2-wheel Drive.

Ama Membership Has Its Benefits

January 28, 2001|By Brian Neale. Special to the Tribune.

I'm the guy motorcycle-magazine circulation managers must love to hate. No matter how many special renewal offers and "last-chance" reminders they send, I never seem to notice until I'm missing a couple issues of my favorite periodicals.

Recently, however, I received a kick in the pants that convinced me not to let one magazine, American Motorcyclist, lapse again. Though a one-year subscription costs almost four times more than most other monthlies, subscribers get more than their money's worth--even if they never crack the cover.

American Motorcyclist is the official publication of the American Motorcyclist Association, a non-profit corporation that exists to further the interests of motorcycling in the U.S. and support its 270,000 members. Annual dues are $39 ($750 for a lifetime membership). Besides a plastic ID card, the magazine is the only tangible benefit.

Though American Motorcyclist is a fine magazine, the intangibles make an AMA membership invaluable. Want to go racing? Almost every motorcycle event in the country is sanctioned by the AMA, and you can't ride if you're not a member.

Looking to save a few bucks on motorcycle parts, accessories, insurance or cross-country shipping? The AMA can hook you up. Throw in healthy discounts at motels and car-rental counters from coast to coast, and it becomes easy to justify the magazine's price tag.

Savings, however, are not why I'm determined to keep my membership current. The AMA's most important function is to defend the safety and rights of all bikers through education, public-awareness campaigns and, when necessary, hard-core lobbying of federal, state and local governments.

As the best known of motorcycle-rights groups that include ABATE (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education) and the MRF (Motorcycle Riders Foundation), the AMA is the longest-standing defender bikers have, which brings me to the kick in the pants that made me respond to its latest reminder.

In 1996 Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act designed to protect Americans from health-care insurance discrimination. The act says employers may not deny workers health-care benefits on the basis of pre-existing conditions or participation in recreational activities.

In the years leading up to the law's passage, the American Motorcyclist Association uncovered a disturbing health-insurance practice. A few employers were denying bikers coverage when they were involved in legal activities atop a motorbike. Coverage often was not denied if the insured was doing something illegal, such as driving a car while intoxicated or going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

The AMA's government relations arm tried to end this by successfully lobbying for specific language to be inserted into the official Congressional Record, which states that the insurance act "is intended to ensure, among other things, that individuals are not excluded from health-care coverage due to their participation in activities such as motorcycling, snowmobiling, all-terrain vehicle riding, horseback riding, skiing and other similar activities."

Chalk one up for the bikers? Not so fast.

It took five years for the responsible agencies, the Internal Revenue Service, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration and Health Care Finance Administration, to get around to releasing the regulations that would govern enforcement of the law. Once they did, on Jan. 5, the final language was nothing short of bewildering.

The new regulations state an employer cannot refuse health-care coverage to an employee on the basis of participation in recreational activities. But they go on to say health-care benefits can be denied for injuries sustained in connection with those activities.

"To say that an employer can't deny health-care coverage to motorcyclists but can deny coverage of any injury related to motorcycling makes this law meaningless," AMA Vice President of Government Relations Ed Moreland said.

The law still appears to protect diabetics, epileptics and others with pre-existing medical conditions who might wish to change jobs without losing their medical coverage, but it seems to gut Congress' original intention with respect to citizens who get their kicks participating in anything more risky than croquet or bridge.

Motorcyclists aren't the only "daredevils." Water skiing is dangerous because you might get run over by a boat. Running is dangerous because you could trip and crack your head open. Target shooting is dangerous because you might blow your foot off.

The real danger is to allow human resource departments and health insurers to decide when you're covered.

The AMA is urging all cyclists--and those involved in any other legal recreational activity--to protest these regulations in the public-comment period through April 9.